- You can go from TN to EB3; it just gets hairy for the period of time that your AOS is being evaluated. I was going through the process when my H1-B got approved and switched to that. There's a 60 day wait period after you last enter on TN, and you cannot leave the country when the AOS gets filed until you get your EAD and AP or GC, whichever comes first.
- Green card will not take 8 years unless you were born in India, China, or the Philippines. EB-3 priority date for rest of world is March 2016, and it takes longer than 3 months to get PERM approved, so by the time it gets approved it would be current. After that, it takes about 6-9 months to get the AOS approved (and you usually get your EAD/AP a little earlier).
>Green card will not take 8 years unless you were born in India, China, or the Philippines
What if you have a Canadian citizenship? Is it still 8 years?
>There's a 60 day wait period after you last enter on TN, and you cannot leave the country when the AOS
So, when I first get my TN visa, I cannot leave the country without any of those papers? How long does my first TN visa last and if that expires I have to wait for 60 days before I get a new one?
It's not based on citizenship, purely birth country. You can search for priority dates and they get updated monthly. It will take a few years for China, India and the Philippines but if you were born outside those three countries you just have to wait through the processing.
Your visa will initially be valid for 3 years. It can be extended a few times. Ideally you'd have at least a year left on your current visa when submitting the AOS application since you cannot reenter on TN once that happens.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, I'm going through the process now and using time spans quoted by my lawyers and my own research.
- You can go from TN to EB3; it just gets hairy for the period of time that your AOS is being evaluated. I was going through the process when my H1-B got approved and switched to that. There's a 60 day wait period after you last enter on TN, and you cannot leave the country when the AOS gets filed until you get your EAD and AP or GC, whichever comes first.
- Green card will not take 8 years unless you were born in India, China, or the Philippines. EB-3 priority date for rest of world is March 2016, and it takes longer than 3 months to get PERM approved, so by the time it gets approved it would be current. After that, it takes about 6-9 months to get the AOS approved (and you usually get your EAD/AP a little earlier).